Libyan traders test diplomatic efforts to preserve NOC unity

National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli has intensified its campaign to shut down attempts by the rival NOC management in Al-Bayda to sell oil on its own account. It is being assisted in this by the UK government in what has become a game of cat and mouse with a small group of international traders, who are repeatedly attempting to break through the British diplomatic cordon. Should a government of national unity be ratified by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), it is likely that further efforts to drag control of Libya’s oil into the eastern province of Cyrenaica will be swiftly shut down by international sanctions.